WILDWOOD – Commissioners, during an Oct. 20 special meeting, approved an ordinance adopting a redevelopment plan for Pacific Avenue.
According to the ordinance, the city is pursuing a redevelopment plan to address inadequate conditions regarding, specifically, downtown Wildwood, on Pacific Avenue.
The conditions include “deterioration in housing, commercial and industrial installations, public services and facilities and other physical components and supports of community life, and improper, or lack of proper, development…” according to the ordinance.
To remediate the “conditions within the city that are detrimental to the health, safety, welfare, and morals of the city due to a pattern of vacancy, physical deterioration of properties and general economic decline,” according to the ordinance, the municipality used the state’s Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, which allows municipalities to address such conditions to prevent them from worsening.
After Wildwood’s Planning Board conducted an investigation, the section was deemed as an “area in need of rehabilitation.”
As a result, the Cape May County Municipal Redevelopment Initiative, Wildwood, and Cape May County entered an agreement for the redevelopment of Pacific Avenue.
“The city and county are jointly employing the Atlantic County Improvement Authority as the designated redevelopment entity for the purpose of planning and implementation of redevelopment plans for the Pacific Avenue redevelopment area,” according to the ordinance.
The redevelopment plan is said to ensure success, which would be to better reflect and strengthen the traditional downtown, while still implementing contemporary design and amenities to “reinvigorate” the area.
According to the ordinance, “Commissioners believe that the adoption of the redevelopment plan is in the best interests of the city and the development of the Pacific Avenue redevelopment area.”
